The West Virginia Autism Training Center is expanding its reach in the state. WV ATC, located at Marshall University in Huntington, has partnered with Concord University to develop on-campus support in Athens for students who are diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder.

The West Virginia Autism Training Center is expanding its reach in the state. WV ATC, located at Marshall University in Huntington, has partnered with Concord University to develop on-campus support in Athens for students who are diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder.

The West Virginia Child Advocacy Network and West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence are getting help from Verizon's HopeLine program to help those affected by domestic violence and child abuse.

The West Virginia Child Advocacy Network and West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence are getting help from Verizon's HopeLine program to help those affected by domestic violence and child abuse.

West Virginia’s Division of Corrections is hoping to close the door to recidivism by helping inmates with drug problems break the grip of addiction. The state already opened two 28-bed units — one for men, the other for women — at Southwestern Regional Jail to accommodate inmates sentenced to DOC custody who are serving parts of those sentences in the separately run regional jail system.

West Virginia’s Division of Corrections is hoping to close the door to recidivism by helping inmates with drug problems break the grip of addiction. The state already opened two 28-bed units — one for men, the other for women — at Southwestern Regional Jail to accommodate inmates sentenced to DOC custody who are serving parts of those sentences in the separately run regional jail system.

In September, when Glen Dale’s Reynolds Memorial Hospital launched its BreakThru program, the staff figured they’d have between five and 10 patients a month coming in for help with getting on the road to a drug-free life.

In September, when Glen Dale’s Reynolds Memorial Hospital launched its BreakThru program, the staff figured they’d have between five and 10 patients a month coming in for help with getting on the road to a drug-free life.

Stocks fell in light
trading Monday during a shortened holiday trading session with lawmakers
running out of time to reach a budget deal that would prevent the U.S.
from going over the so-called fiscal cliff.

The Dow Jones
industrial average fell 51 points to 13,140. The Standard & Poor's
500 index gave up 4 points to 1,426. The Nasdaq composite slipped 9
points to 3,012.

In more than a dozen interviews with The
Associated Press, conservative activists said they would rather see the
country fall off the cliff than agree to any tax increases for any
Americans, no matter how wealthy.

With many in Washington away for the holidays, that scenario appears increasingly likely.

"There
is starting to become a little bit of an acceptance that we fall off
the fiscal cliff," said JJ Kinahan, chief derivatives strategist for TD
Ameritrade. "People are starting to think about how they may plan their
portfolio if that does happen."

Stocks fell sharply Friday, with
the Dow logging its biggest drop in more than a month, after House
Republicans called off a vote on tax rates. That left federal budget
talks in disarray just days before sweeping tax increases and government
spending cuts are scheduled to take effect.

Sen. Joe Lieberman
said Sunday that it "It's the first time that I feel it's more likely
we'll go over the cliff than not," following the collapse late Thursday
of House Speaker John Boehner's plan to allow tax rates to rise on
million-dollar-plus incomes. Wyoming Sen. Jon Barrasso, a member of the
Republican leadership, predicted the new year would come without an
agreement.

Failure to agree on a budget plan before year-end would
lead to simultaneous spending cuts and tax hikes that many fear may
push the economy back into recession.

President Barack Obama and
Congress are on a short holiday break. Congress is expected to be back
at work Thursday and Obama will be back in the White House after a few
days in Hawaii.

J.C. Penney Co.'s stock jumped after Oppenheimer
analysts reiterated a "Buy" rating on the company Monday, saying that
traffic in stores in the final weekend before Christmas was strong. The
analysts said that this made them more optimistic that the company's new
approach to promotion will help it through the holidays and into 2013.

The stock jumped 31 cents to $19.88, putting it among the best performers in the S&P 500.

Other
retailers may struggle thought this holiday season though, as Christmas
shoppers rein in their spending, their spirits dampened by concerns
about the economy and the aftermath of shootings and storms. Marshal
Cohen, chief research analyst at NPD Inc., a market research firm with a
network of analysts at shopping centers nationwide, estimates customer
traffic over the weekend was in line with the same time a year ago, but
that shoppers are spending less.

Shoppers are increasingly worried
about the fiscal cliff deadline, adding to the fall's retail woes after
Superstorm Sandy's passage up the East Coast.

Consumer spending
drives about 70 percent of economic growth, so how confident they are
about parting with money is crucial for any economic recovery.

Falling
stocks outnumbers gainers by a ratio of about four to one in the
30-member Dow, with technology companies leading the decliners.
Hewlett-Packard fell 43 cents to $13.92 and Microsoft Corp. dropped 43
cents to $27.02.

Stocks may also come under pressure in coming
days as investors who have seen their holdings gain this year, decide to
sell and book the capital gains tax in 2012 so as to avoid any
potential increase in that tax rate next year, according to Kinahan, of
TD Ameritrade.

"People who have had a nice year in a particular stock may say 'why not take the hit this year?'," said Kinahan.

Still,
barring a dramatic sell-off in the year's final days of trading, stocks
will end the year higher on signs that the U.S. housing market is
recovering and the U.S. economy is adding jobs. The Federal Reserve
also announced a third-round of its so-called quantitative easing
program in September. The program, intended to lower the cost of
borrowing and spur lending, helped underpin demand for stocks.

The
S&P 500 is currently 13 percent higher for the year, the Dow is
almost 8 percent up and the Nasdaq is nearly 16 percent higher.

Trading
volumes were lower than average today before the Christmas holiday
Tuesday. The stock market will close at 1 p.m. Monday and will reopen
Wednesday.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose 1 basis point to 1.78 percent.

Among other stocks making big moves:

—Herbalife
Ltd., the nutritional supplements company, fell $1.54 to $25.71. The
stock has tumbled 43 percent this month after William Ackman, the
founder and CEO of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management L.P.,
claimed that the nutritional supplements company is a pyramid scheme.